Johnston Blakeley was born in 1781 in Seaford, County Down, Ireland and came to America with his parents at the age of two. Soon after his family settled in Charleston, S.C., Blakeley's mother and brother died; and his father took young Johnston to live in Wilmington, N.C. At nine years of age, Blakeley was sent north to New York under the care of his father's old friend, a merchant named Hoope. In 1796, he returned to North Carolina to begin study at the newly established University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Upon his father's death in 1797, Blakeley inherited rental properties which gave him sufficient income to continue his education, but that came to an abrupt halt in 1799 when the uninsured buildings burned down. The following year, Blakeley succeeded in acquiring a midshipman's warrant, and his first sea duty came in the frigate President under the command of Capt. Richard Dale. In 1801 and 1802, his ship made an uneventful cruise to the Mediterranean Sea to keep an eye on the Barbary pirates. Upon his return to the United States, he was reassigned to the frigate John Adams, that sailed for the Mediterranean on 22 October 1803. During that deployment, Blakeley saw action off Tripoli when the frigate bombarded the forts and shipping in the harbor. However, the most notable event of the cruise proved to be the destruction of the 20 gun Tripolitan cruiser Meshouda. Blakeley returned to the United States in John Adams in the fall of 1803 and was reassigned to the frigate Congress. However, he soon returned to John Adams when that frigate had to return to the Mediterranean to replace the lost Philadelphia. His ship arrived off Tripoli on 7 August 1804 and participated in the second series of engagements carried out against the pirate lair during the summer of 1804. Blakeley transferred to Congress during the fall of 1804 and served in that frigate until she returned to the United States in the summer of 1805. Successive assignments in Hornet, at the Norfolk Navy Yard as officer in charge of a group of gunboats enforcing Jefferson's embargo in the Chesapeake Bay, and in Essex occupied his time between 1805 and 1811. On 10 February 1807, while he was at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Blakeley received his commission as a lieutenant. In 1811, he was given his first command, Enterprise. When war with Great Britain came in June 1812, he cruised along the east coast of the United States during the first year of the conflict. Initially unsuccessful in his attempts to take British prizes, his luck improved later in the cruise when he concentrated on the waters along the New England coast. In July 1813, he received a promotion to master commandant and was offered command of the newly constructed, 22 gun sloop of war Wasp. Blakeley hastened to Newburyport, Mass., to complete outfitting his new command and put her into commission early in 1814. Getting underway on 1 May, he captured several merchantmen in the western approaches to the British Isles before encountering his first enemy warship on 28 June. On that day at a point some 225 miles west of Plymouth, England, Wasp fell in with the 21 gun sloop of war HMS Reindeer. The contest lasted a mere 19 minutes; yet, during that short span, the two ships exchanged severe cannonades of grape and solid shot. Blakeley’s crewmen repulsed several boarding attempts and finally carried the enemy warship by one of their own. Reindeer was destroyed by fire; and Blakeley, after repairs at L'Orient, France, resumed his guerre de course on British seaborne trade. He took three more prizes late in August before meeting HMS Avon, an 18-gun brig, in the evening of 21 September. After maneuvering Wasp into a position in which he had Avon under his lee bow, Blakeley opened fire at about 2130. The British ship returned fire for about 30 minutes then appeared to cease fire. At that point, Blakeley halted his gunners and demanded Avon's surrender; but the enemy responded by resuming fire. Wasp did the same. After several broadsides, Avon's battery once more fell silent. Blakeley repeated the call to surrender, and the battered hulk had no choice but to comply. At that point, the appearance of three more British ships forced Blakeley to abandon his prize and make good his escape. Unknown to the Americans, Avon later sank. Wasp then resumed the war on British merchant shipping. He made three more known captures, the last of which was the eight-gun brig Atalanta that he sent into Charleston, S.C. The last contact with Blakeley and his command occurred on 8 October when he spoke the Swedish brig Adonis off the Azores. Apparently, Wasp went down with all hands in an Atlantic storm. Johnston Blakeley was awarded the thanks of Congress, a gold medal, and a promotion to captain--all posthumously--for his last cruise. In addition, the state of South Carolina voted him a sword and delivered it to his widow.

Photo #: NH 100560. Margaret (U.S. Steam Yacht, 1913) at Boston, Massachusetts, 3 May 1917, while being converted for World War I Navy service. The torpedo boats Blakely (Torpedo Boat # 27) and DuPont (Torpedo Boat # 7) are at right. Acquired by the Navy on 28 April 1917 and placed in commission on 28 June 1917 as USS Margaret (SP-524), this yacht was renamed SP-524 in 1918. She was transferred to the War Department on 9 March 1920.

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